Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1887-11-26
TIE DUTY OF PARENTS.
DIR. TALMAeE's DISCOURSE AT THE
TABERNACLE.

DIR. TALMAGE'S DISCOURSE AT TIL
TABERNACLE.
/, The Extremes of Discipline and Lon
oncy-Chlldrcn rs Often Ruined by II
dulgencc us by Tyranny--Tho Prope
Treatment of tho Young.
BRooKLYN, Nov. 13.-Tho weekly publica
tion of Dr. Talmage's sermons is beyond pa1
allc Besides tho English speaking nations
including Australia and New Zealand, th
sermons IRE regularly translated into til
languages of Germany, Franco, Italy, Den
mark, Norway, Russia and India. Tho gen
tlcmca having in charge tho publication o
these sermons inform us that in this country
every week 10000 600 copies of tho entir
Sermon aro printed, and about 100000 il
other lands, making over II, 0OU, 900 per week
a similar arrangement is now being mad,
for the publication of Dr. Talmago's Friday
evening talks.
The subject Of the sermon todny was "Pa
rental Blundcrs,n and the text was !. Samue
iy, IL: she fell from OF the seat backward
by the side of the cato, and his neck brake
and he died: for he was an old man, anc
heavy" Dr. Talmage said:
This is the end of q long story of parental
neglect. Judge Eli was good man, but he
let his two boys, Hophni and Phinehas, do ns
they pleased, and through over indulgence
they went to ruin. The blind old Judge
IS years of ago is seated at the gate waiting
for thn of
his two sons were at tho front an express
is coming with tidings from the battle. This
blind nonagenarian puts his hand behind his
ear, and listens and cries: "Whut meancth
the noiso of this tumultp An excited mes
scagcr, all out Of breath with the speed, said
to bin: Our army is defeated The sacred
chest, called the ark, is captured, and your
SONS arc dead on the field" No wonder the
father tainted and expired. The domestic
tragedy i'll which these two sons werc the
traScdia,is had finished its fifth and lust act
lilo fell from Off the seat backward by the
side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he
died: for nc was an old man, and heavy.'
Eli had made an awful mistake i'll regard
to his children. The Bible distinctly says:
"HiS sons made themselves vile and he re-
strained them not" Oh, the ten thousand
mistakes in rearing children, mistakes of
parents, mistakes of teachers in day school
and Sabbath classes, mistakes which we all
make Will it not be useful to consider
them.
This country is going to be conquered by
great army, compared with which that of
Baldwin the First, and Xerxes, and Alex
an:ler, and Grant, and Lee, all put together,
were i'll numbers Insignificant They will
capture all our pulpits, storchouses. factories
and halls of legislation, all our shipping, MI
our wealth, and all our honors. They will
takc POSSESSION of all authority, from tho
U.litcd States presidency down to the hum
blcst constabulary-of everything between
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They are on
the march now, and they halt neither day
nor night. They will soon be here, and all
the present active population of this country
must surrender and give way. Irefer to the
great army Of children. Whether they shall
take possession of everything for good or for
bad, depends upon the style OF preparation
through which they pass on their way from
cradle to throne Cicero acknowledges he
kept in his desk collection of prefaces for
bools, which prefaces he could ut any time
attach to anything he wanted to publish for,
young life under their charge, and not
only the preface, but tho appendix,
whether the volume be u poem or
farce. Families and schools, and legislatures
arc in our day busily engaged in discussing
what is the best mode of educating children
Before this question almost every other
dwindlcs into insigniflcance, while dependent
upon its proper solution is tho welfare of
governments ami ages eternal. Macaulay
tells of tho war which Frederick II made
against Queen Maria Theresa. And one
day she appeared before the august diet,
wearing mourning for her father, and held
up in her arms before them her child, the
archdukc. This so wrought upon the officers
and deputies of the people that with half
drawn swords they broke forth in the war
cry: "Let us die for our queen, Maria
Theresa" So, this morning, realizing that
the boy of today is to be the ruler Of the
future the popular sovereign, l hold him
before the American people to arouse their
enthusiasm in his behalf, and to evoke their
oath for his defense, his education and his
sublime destiny
If parent, you will remember when you
wero aroused to these great responsibilities,
ard when YOU found that you had not done
all REQUIRED after you had admired the tiny
hands, and the glossy hair, and the bright
eyes that lay in the cradle. You suddenly
remembered that that hand would yet be
raised to bless the world with its bcnediction,
or TO smitc it with a curse. In Ariosto's
creat poem there is character called Rug
f1icro. who has q shield of insuffcrable
s,,lcnlor, but it is kept yelled, save on certain
occasions, and when uncovered it startled
and overwhelmed its beholder, who before
had no suspicion Of its brightness. My hopo
today is to uncover the destiny of your child
or student, about which you may have no cs-
pecial appreciation, and flash upon you the
spleadors Of its immortal nature. Behold the
shield and the sword of its coming conflict
I propose in this discourse to set forth
what consider to be some of the errors pre-
valent in the training of children.
First: remark that many err IN too great
severity or too great lcniency of family gov
ernnent. between parental tyranny and
r,,iuous laxativcness of discipline there is O
medium. Sometimes the father errs on ono
side md the mother on the other side. Good
family government is all important. Anarchy
and nisrulo in the domestic circle is the fore
runner of anarchy and misrule in tho state.
What q repulsivc spectacle is home without
order or discipline, disobcdicncc and impu-
dencc, and anger und falsehood lifting their
borrid front in tho place which shonld be
.onsecrated to all that is holy and peaceful
and beautiful. In the attempt to avoid all
this, and bring the children under proper
laws and regulations, parents have sometimes
carried themselves with great rigor. john
Howard. who was mcrciful to the prisons and
loy,rcttos. was lncrcileSs in the treatment oil
his children. John Milton knew everything
hut low to train his family. Severe and un.
reasonable was he in his carriage toward
them. He made them read to him in four Of
five languages, but would not allow them te
learn any Of them, for he said that one
tongue was enough for woman. Their
reading was mechanical dlridgery, when, il